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Monday, 18 November 2013

Is all publicity good publicity? - by Susie

My only experience of dealing with the press so
far has been a very positive one. My local paper ran a great article
about my role as a volunteer for Pregnancy Sickness Support.
However, I am also well aware of the media’s ability to distort
things. A fellow volunteer, for example, once spoke in good faith to
the media about her own experience of hyperemesis gravidarum. When
she saw the article, she was horrified to see that the headline was
“My hubbie made me vomit”. Not exactly a triumph of British
journalism!

Two or three months ago, I contacted a
different newspaper in an attempt to get some publicity for Pregnancy
Sickness Support and the nine months of campaign. The initial
response was great. A health correspondent contacted me and said she
was planning to run a double page spread. Fantastic! She needed a
case study which I was happy to do and so we set up a date for an
interview. But from the start of the interview, it was abundantly
clear that the reporter had a very different article in mind to the
one I had intended.

First question: “So, how did you feel when
you found out you were pregnant – were you happy about it?” Whoa
... hang on a minute. What has that got to do with Pregnancy Sickness
Support and the nine months of … campaign? Alarm bells
started to ring! After a few more questions a picture was emerging
of the type of article that would appear in the paper.

Although I tried at every possible opportunity
to mention PSS and nine months of (probably to the point of
annoyance!) the reporter seemed far more interested in an almost
day-by-day diary of my pregnancy and HG symptoms. It’s difficult
to put my finger on why but I was beginning to feel uneasy about the
whole thing.

They say “there is no such thing as bad
publicity” but I beg to differ. I admit that I might not be the
easiest subject. I like to be in control. I am a lawyer and
naturally cautious. I am also concerned (rightly or wrongly) about
how I come across and what people think of me. I did not want the
focus of the article to be me going into great detail about what I
went through from the moment I found out I was pregnant to the day I
gave birth in case this was somehow portrayed in a negative way. Of
course, I wanted to convey how awful and devastating HG is but my
intention was to have a positive message (i.e. the work of the
charity and the nine months of … campaign) to
give hope to women who are suffering that they can get through it and
to let them know that there is support and treatment available.
It was clear the reporter had a very different agenda.

Although the reporter would not agree to let me
see the article before publication, we eventually agreed (or at least
so I thought) that she would focus instead on statistics from recent
research by PSS which showed that 60% of women who have
suffered from HG experienced symptoms throughout the whole nine
months of pregnancy, and so the section about
me would less prominent. I then went on holiday for a couple of
weeks and the plan was that she would read through the article with
me when I got back. That was in August and I have not heard anything
since. It may be that the article has been shelved for the time
being but it is far more likely that the reporter has decided not to
run the article.

With hindsight this is probably for the best.
If my gut instinct was right then our expectations for the article
were clearly just too far apart. Whilst it is extremely
disappointing that Pregnancy Sickness Support and the nine months of
… campaign did not get the publicity I wanted, I certainly did not
want publicity at any cost.

If you have enjoyed reading this please sponsor me to ensure that the charity can continue to help sufferers and their families. It would mean a lot to me. Thank you.